Sharing Air Claremont Graduate University

In this week’s podcast Andy Vosko and Lori Anne Ferrell talk to Kenneth Wolf, John Sutton Minor Professor of History and Classics at Pomona College, about translating human experience along with words; the startling way the cultures of the past can seem utterly strange and completely familiar to us; and how people once found – and still find – answers to implacable facts of life and mortality.
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.

In this episode, we discuss the atmosphere in Southern California as mass vaccinations begin, the surprising way in which music is being used to help heal from Covid-19, and the requirements for a person to be considered an “expert breather” despite social stigma. Our guest is Anne Harley, Associate Professor of Music at Scripps College and interdisciplinary humanist herself, sharing in rich conversation the importance of re-discovering one’s voice and breath during this transitional time. Through the power of music and breathing, we look back on the costs of the pandemic while also looking forward to future opportunities for sharing air.
Interested in voice/breathing lessons? Contact Anne Harley for more information: https://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/faculty/profile/anne-harley
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.
 

As we reflect on the celebrations of early February, our conversation takes us to a pandemic-inspired version of Groundhog Day, containing elements of The Tell-Tale Heart, time loops, and the kitchen sink. To discuss the challenges and triumphs of ‘working from home,’ we are joined by Dr. Gloria Gonzalez, a positive organizational psychologist and expert on work and well-being. We learn that A-I-R isn’t just the common thread to all our shows, but also an organizational strategy to help us stay productive. Turning to a ‘nano’ approach, our new work-life integration sees the potential benefits of flexible teleworking, timed de-stressing, and efficient dishwashing.
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.

Kicking off our second season, Sharing Air dives right into The Pandemic Experience through our favorite respiratory art—poetry. Taking stock of where we are one year later, we discuss how the experience of this past year has both changed us and re-enforced our ways of coping in the face of the unknown, and sometimes, in isolation. We are joined by a special guest to discuss how the pandemic can help us understand a new kind of empathy, take ownership of our storytelling, and continue to move forward amid new and constant challenges.
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.

If we have learned anything over the course of this podcast so far, it is that the concept of a disruptive ‘new normal’ is anything but new and certainly not normal. Instead, we trade in this idea for an exploration of allostasis: a process of how we internally adapt to new, long-term, external pressures. This week, our guest Heather Campbell, Professor in the Department of Politics and Government, helps frame our conversation around the push-pull forces determining policy in the US. We also discuss COVID-19 as a stress test for our short-term planning, de-centralized services, and environmental (in-)justice. As the pandemic defines more clearly the pressures to which we have no choice but to adapt, we find ourselves compelled to look inward, imagining a more equitable future.
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.

Whether we look squarely into the future with the optimism of science, or we fix our gaze on the past to find wisdom in human experience, uncertain times inspire us to create, creating elegant and memorable theories, essays, and poems. This week, we cast our eyes backward to Early Modern Europe (1500-1750) in order to (re)connect the history of science and philosophy,  the mind-body divide, and the mystery of the soul to our current realities of living (and not living) through the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guest, CGU’s Provost and Professor Patricia Easton, helps us link the teachings of Rene Descartes to the works of another, equally famous seventeenth century weaver of words and ideas, John Donne—and, in so doing, allows us to connect their remarkably similar outlooks to those of another transformative, transdisciplinary, and creative era: the present day.
For a transcript of this episode, email cgupodcasts at gmail.com and include the episode title.